We have been learning from the Letter to the Ephesians and we are now in the middle of the last chapter.
We have learned that the letter is addressed to every person who believes in Jesus Christ. God tells us through the Apostle Paul who we are as Christians; that we are citizens of heaven and so we are called to live a life on earth worthy of who we are. God instructs Christians how to grow spiritually and how to specifically live in the church, in the home, and in the community. Last week we talked about the relationship between children and parents from Ephesians 6:1-4.
Today, we will celebrate what our Savior Jesus Christ did for us through communion. And so, instead of talking about the relationships in the workplace this morning, we will jump ahead to Ephesians 6:10-13. We will go back to verses 5-9 in the future.
And so, please open your Bibles to Ephesians 6. Let us stand as we pray and read together. Let us pray……….
Read along with me Ephesians 6:10-13…………
Before you sit down, look around you! You and I have brothers and sisters in Christ standing for God! Amen!
Jesus is God and He loves us and we are to be strong in Him! This is the main point of the message today.
How important is this point, to be strong in the Lord?
God blesses us with so much treasure in Chapters 1-5 of Ephesians then God starts the ending passages in the letter with a word which should alert us. God says, “Finally!”
This is like when a Preacher tells you, “if you can only remember one thing from the message, this is it!”
We are to take notice of these final notes and instructions!
And if you can remember only one thing from the message today, this is it: We are to always be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power! (let’s say this together).
Now, there are at least two things implied in this statement. First of all, since we are told this command, the opposite can be true for us can’t it?
Although given all the riches of heaven and empowered by the Holy Spirit, a Christian can be weak with the Lord and not depend on Christ’s power! God emphasizes this point, If we do not work on being strong in the Lord, we will be weak!
And what happens to Christians when they are weak? Verse 11 tells us. When Christians are weak in the Lord, they will not be able to stand against evil!
The second thing implied by v10 is described in verse 12.
Christians are in a war! Christians are in a spiritual battle. Christians are in a war with the devil!
What does this mean?
All Christians will be attacked by the devil! (v13)
In the future when we talk about the full armor of God, we will note which areas of our lives the devil will attack us.
For now, let us just note this important truth: Christians will be attacked by the devil, and if they are weak in the Lord, they will fail!
But take heart, God knows your specific situation! Your God and Savior Jesus Christ has already won the battle! It is up to us to depend on what Jesus has already accomplished!
So, we all need to ask ourselves, “How strong am I in Jesus?” And before we end the message by answering how we can be strong in Jesus, let’s briefly talk about what being strong in the Lord looks like.
Can we tell how strong we are in the Lord and depending on His mighty power? The answer is simple. We just talked about it! When we are not strong in the Lord, we will be weak and we will fail against the devil. In other words, you can tell when you are weak in Jesus Christ when you’re allowing the devil to win in your life! Are there any areas in my life where the devil is winning?
We need to be stronger in the Lord and in His MIGHTY power! As Christians, we all have the power of Jesus Christ to say no sin! If you’re having a hard time saying no to sin and you’re allowing the devil to win in your life, focus and work on being strong in Jesus Christ!
You know, this is similar to staying fit physically.
If you don’t watch what you eat and you don’t do any exercises, what will happen??
If we want to be physically fit, you have to focus and work on our diet and exercise! It is the same with our spiritual lives! We all need to focus and work on being strong in the Lord and in His mighty power!
Now, how are we to focus and work on being strong in Jesus Christ?
In general, the answer is in v11-13: Put on the full armor of God and stand! God tells us in Ephesians 6:14-18 the pieces of this full armor that every Christian must put on. I encourage you to read that passage everyday this week and work on putting on the armor God has given you!
In the next few weeks, we will talk more in detail about each piece of this godly armor. But in preparation for communion, look at v14 of Ephesians 6………….
Where do we get truth and how can we have righteousness? Jesus Christ said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Righteous God except through Me!” Jesus Christ is the only source of truth and righteousness!
